The Trouble With ‘Girls Outscore Boys’ Headlines

In an effort to measure students’ understanding of basic
engineering and technology principles, a new national assessment
aims to move beyond multiple-choice questions and instead focus
on troubleshooting in real-world scenarios. For example, students
are tasked with designing a healthier habitat for a pet iguana,
or building safer bike lanes in a city.

If that innovation is the good news, here is the flipside:
Overall, just 43 percent of U.S. eighth graders tested met or
exceeded the benchmark for proficiency on the exam, according to
results released Tuesday for the first round of testing. The
data also showed a gender gap, but not the one that
conventional wisdom might have predicted.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress is given to a
representative sampling of the nation’s students to gauge their
proficiency in reading, writing, math, and other core subjects
including civics and science. Known as “the nation’s report
card”, it’s one of the few means of comparing student achievement
among states. The first-ever Technology and Engineering Literacy
(TEL)
assessment was given in 2014.

Today’s results reveal students’ ability in “thinking through
problems systematically, using technology and engineering
information built into each task to arrive at the best
solutions,” according to the NAEP report.

Why does this matter? These are skills that experts say Americans
must have if they are to compete in a global marketplace. U.S.
students typically have middling performance on international
assessments gauging math and science ability, as well as problem-solving
skills. That being said, it’s important to remember NAEP
is just one indicator of student knowledge and skills, and it’s
not designed to evaluate the merits of a particular educational
program or intervention.

Breaking down the NAEP scores by gender, girls averaged
151 points (out of a possible 300), three points higher
than for boys. Measured another way, 45 percent of females met or
exceeded the proficient level, compared with 42 percent of males.
The chart below highlights some of the gender gaps by race and
ethnicity.

The gaps were far wider between students from low-income families
and their more affluent peers – a 28-point difference in
proficiency levels. And the disparity was most dramatic
among racial groups: 56 percent of white students met or
exceeded the benchmark for proficiency, compared with just 18
percent of their black peers. (More
on this angle from Philissa Cramer of Chalkbeat.)

So why did so much of Monday’s media call with reporters focus on
the relatively smaller lead girls held over boys on the new
assessment? That was because “we did not expect this pattern,”
explained Peggy Carr, the acting commissioner of the National
Center for Education Statistics.

“It looks like girls have the ability and critical thinking
skills to succeed in fields of technology and engineering, and
that is worth noting,” said Carr, whose organization oversees
NAEP.

By comparison, the gaps in socioeconomic status and race have
long been evidenced in NAEP scores for other core
subjects: “It’s sort of the same old story,” Carr said.

To be sure, girls and women are underrepresented in STEM
(science, technology, engineering, and math) advanced coursework,
degree programs, and careers. A wealth of initiatives – both
public and private – are aimed at boosting those numbers.

While the “Girls Outperform Boys” headlines might grab the
public’s eye, the underlying story is more complicated, said
Karen Peterson, the chief executive of the National Girls Collaborative
Project. The long-term goal, Peterson said, isn’t getting
females to best their male counterparts on a particular test but
to increase their persistence and resilience in STEM studies so
that those early kernels of interest translate into meaningful
careers.

“I worry about the knee-jerk reaction when we compartmentalize
these kinds of test results by gender,” Peterson said.
“Someone is going to take this headline and say ‘We need a new
initiative aimed at boys.’ In reality, the training and work we
do with educators around increasing girls’ interest in STEM are
teaching strategies that are going to help boys, too. This is not
zero-sum competition.”

Two other nuggets in the new report caught my attention: First
off, close to two-thirds of eighth graders (63 percent) said that
“their family members most often taught them about building
things, fixing things, or understanding how things work.”
Comparatively, 19 percent of students said they taught
themselves, and “13 percent of students reported that they
learned from their teachers,” according to the report. That
suggests the influences of a student’s home life, once again,
cannot be underestimated in how it influences their in-school
achievement.

Also worth noting: This assessment, NAEP’s first new test in
about a decade, was a long time coming. (When the planning began,
there was no such thing as an iPhone.) Among the challenges:
making sure the questions weren’t predicated on technology that
could become obsolete before the first group of students even got
a chance to answer them.

At the same time, it’s important not to over-interpret these
results, said Professor Nancy Songer, the dean of Drexel
University’s School of Education. It’s unknown whether the
technology and engineering literacy skills being measured will
translate into success in these fields later in a student’s
academic career. However, the TEL appears to be a valuable
addition to the testing toolbox, Songer said.

The best assessments, said Songer, are the ones that feel less
like a stand-alone test and more like extended classroom
activities – reinforcing the kind of interactive learning that’s
increasingly being encouraged, particularly in the sciences.

“Tests that rely heavily on multiple choice are very reliable,
but they’re not giving you really rich information about kids’
critical thinking or problem-solving,” said Songer, who has
advised other assessment developers, including the College Board.
“That’s why the (TEL) scenarios are so valuable – the kids have
enough time and contextual information to demonstrate what they
can, and cannot, do. That’s exactly where tests need to go.”

This item appears in

Emily Richmond is the public editor of the Education Writers
Association. She coordinates programming and training
opportunities for members and provides individualized reporting
and writing help to journalists. She also hosts the EWA
Radio podcast, and authors EWA’s “The Educated Reporter”
blog.

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